Lavrov: Russia willing to mediate Israel-PA talks

Russian foreign minister says his country is ready to host a meeting between Israelis and Palestinian Arabs.

Elad Benari, Canada, 23/11/18 20:09

Sergei Lavrov

Reuters

Russia is ready to host a meeting between Israelis and Palestinian Arabs and act as a mediator in the talks between them, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday, according to Reuters.

Lavrov was speaking to reporters during a two-day trip to Rome.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has in the past expressed a desire to host an Israeli-Palestinian Arab summit to revive the talks but nothing has materialized yet in this regard.

The Israel-Palestinian Authority (PA) peace process has been frozen since 2014, when PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas breached conditions of talks that were ongoing at the time by unilaterally joining international treaties and conventions.

The Trump administration in the US has been working on a peace plan for Israel and the PA, but it has not yet been unveiled.

A report on Thursday indicated that President Donald Trump postponed the publication of his plan, which has been dubbed the "Deal of the Century", until February 2019.

According to the report, the reason for Trump’s decision is not to "embarrass" Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu with demands for concessions to Palestinian Arabs, after Minister Naftali Bennett decided not to resign and prevented early elections.

Abbas has already rejected the US peace plan before it has even been made public. He has refused to consider the Trump administration an honest broker for negotiations since Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital last December.

(Arutz Sheva’s North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Arutz Sheva articles, however, is Israeli time.)